Isles can just use a CBO on ladd this summer and trade Leddy for a pick. Acquiring Parise was more about getting rid of Ladd.

I kinda forgot about that... you can just swap Ladd for Komarov or the Isles can just CBO Komarov... they have so many options it's scary (Clutterbuck, Komarov, Ladd...)

It only makes sense for isles to acquire parise if they retained 3-3.5 mill (which they won’t do, I don’t blame them).

The most likely scenario this offseason is ladd CBO, leddy traded for a pick, and komarov is sent to the AHL (saves 1.25 mill). Wahlstrom , bellows should make the team out of camp next season.

Plenty of teams have multiple buyout candidates - rangers have staal , Lundkvist , Brendan smith .

Wild would just be better off just doing nothing except CBO (I think getting one is unlikely) Zucc and signing Kaprizov this offseason.

-Strome isn't good unless he has Kane carrying him.
-Leddy and Ladd don't make the team better. Bellows is a wing in the AHL next year.
-Taking on a cap dump before the season is something you do if it's an overpay in the return. That trade is not an overpay.
-Addison would be 3rd (at best) on the AHL roster depth chart currently; which would make him 7th RD in the system. All of those other d-men are under contract or RFAs for next season.

what makes you say bellows is a wing in the AHL next year?

#1 he's a wing with a bunch of flaws.
#2 there are 8 wings on the current team better than him in Donato, Fiala, Foligno, Greenway, Hartman, Kunin, Parise, and Zucc (all under contract/RFA for next year). Kaprizov should be here next year.

So the Parise trade is basically MN taking on a an extra $8.5m in cap to downgrade to from Parise to Bellows at LW and a couple of mid round picks (most likely to be AHL roster fillers). MN does have Boldy already, and will get another wing this draft.

I agree the wild have no use for bellows - they need young top 6 centers, not wingers.

Bellows is a solid player and will be in the NHL next year. He's only 21, had a great season in the AHL and played well for the islanders when he was called up. He'll be a solid 2nd line winger that can put up 20+ goals and contribute on the power play.

I think Bellows will be the next Pulkkinen. Great shot, but nothing else that is NHL quality.

pulkinnen was extremely flawed. Terrible defensively and no work ethic.

Bellows play away from the puck is solid and his skating is NHL quality. People just look up his scouting report from his draft year and assume his skating is still bad.

His skating is NHL average at best (and I think that is generous). He doesn't know how to play defense, and isn't much of a passer.

How many games have you watched bellows play this year? Barry Trotz actually praised bellows defensive play, I guess you know more than him.

Wasn't Trotz comment something along the lines of "better than I expected"?

no. He praised his intelligence away from the puck and his ability to win puck battles. Trotz also gave him shifts at the end of the 3rd period, which he rarely does with rookies.

Why not CBO Suter and keep Parise on the 2nd line next year and the 3rd and 4th after that? He's a fan favorite Minnesota boy. Yes that's a horrible contract, but it makes sense to keep him. He's the heart and soul of the team. I know Suter is still really good, but if they can get rid of one of those contracts itd help there future significantly. Zuc can always bounce back. Just bring him a better linemate or trade him 1,1.5,2M retained. I'm sure theres someone out there I'm interested.

Why anyone thinks retaining a bunch of salary on Parise while taking back significantly worse contracts in exchange makes any sense, I'll never know. Parise isn't worth a lot, but if a CBO doesn't exist and Ladd's complete waste of cap space is coming back, there has to be an incentive for the Wild to do it or they'll just roll the dice on Parise not being a problem for them down the road. He's still a 25 goal scorer who is sound defensively, the Wild can use that. Ladd is press box veteran poise, they don't need that.

There's a reason the deal fell through and it's because Guerin isn't an idiot.